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Stinky smell causes uproar after dumping in Holden

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HOLDEN - Some people say a nasty odor is keeping them from enjoying the outdoors in Livingston Parish.

The residents in Holden say the smell is coming from piles of something dumped by a company named Darpro. Darpro turns used cooking grease and oil into diesel and says it is dumping fertilizer on private property. That property is owned by a man who welcomes the dumping and plans to spread the fertilizer to grow better grass for his cows.

However, a handful of people are growing tired of the smell.

Smells like old, old cooking grease," said Ashley Aime. "I would like the smell to go away or at least be told that it's safe for my family to be outside and to continue to drink the water."

A few residents filed complaints with the Department of Environmental Quality. DEQ is now investigating to make sure Darpro obtained all of the necessary permits before dumping on the land in Holden. The company says it checked with DEQ before hand and also made an agreement with the land owner Ed Green. Green says he did not think about what the fertilizer would smell like.

"We've been here all our lives, and all these people we're all friends," he said. "We're all friends and family together here, and we don't want anything like that. So we're going to try to do something about it if possible whatever we can do."

Green says he plans to plow the fertilizer in hopes to get rid of the smell and says he will make things right with his neighbors. DEQ says the investigation could take several days.